Infectious Endocarditis as a Result of Contamination during Cardiac Catheterization

Abstract

A SEARCH of the medical literature through 19S0 does not reveal any reported cases of bacterial endocarditis following cardiac catheterization. The following case seems to represent an example of temporal and probably causal relation.Case ReportA 44-year-old woman was first admitted to the hospital on November 28, 1951. There was a well substantiated history of rheumatic fever at the age of 10, but there were no symptoms of any kind until 1943, when she noted the onset of dyspnea. A diagnosis of mitral stenosis was made, and digitalis therapy was started in 1946. In November, 1950, she apparently experienced . . .